


Hurts Like Heaven

by inmyrosegarden



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, One Shot, Unrequited Love, larry stylinson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-17
Updated: 2012-12-17
Packaged: 2017-11-21 09:54:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/596364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inmyrosegarden/pseuds/inmyrosegarden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry finds someone else and Louis thinks his life is over.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hurts Like Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> So I put this fic up on tumblr ages ago and um...here it is in one shot form :))
> 
> tumblr: sexualstyless

Louis was sat at home watching a repeat of the X Factor when he heard the door open and close. He turned his head towards the foyer and waited to see the face of whoever it was.

Unsurprisingly, it was Harry. He walked into the room with a terribly love-struck expression on his face. He kept biting his lip to refrain a grin from breaking out on his face.

Louis chuckled. “Hazzy! What’s got you in such a fine mood?”

Harry looked startled and his head spun to look at Louis who was lounging casually on a couch. He cleared his throat and a blush crept on to his face.

“You’re still up, Lou? It’s nearly 2 in the morning…”

“Please, Harold I’m not a child. I can sleep whenever I please,” Louis pouted. 

Harry rolled his eyes and smiled, ambling into the living room and taking a seat on the armchair next to where Louis was sat.

“Enough about my sleeping habits, Harry. I want to know what’s got you in such a chipper mood.” Louis smiled.

“I don’t know Lou…it’s not that big of a deal—”

“Out with it boy!” Louis yelled, sitting up from his previous position.

“Well, y’know Grimmy invited me out tonight, yeah? Said he had someone to introduce me to. So basically I went over to his mate Angie’s and she was having a bit of a party there—” 

“Oooh hipster party,” Louis wiggled his eyebrows. 

Harry laughed. “It gets better! So there was this guy there and like, he was the one Grimmy wanted me to meet. And Louis you should’ve seen him, he was gorgeous like a bit shorter than me yeah? And he had these dark blue eyes, almost like a purplish color. And black hair and like he wasn’t overly muscular but just right kind of? Anyway he was totally gorgeous and we kind of hit it off like right away? And y’know what he said to me? He said he thought I was amazing and cute, and he said he really liked me! Oh my gosh Louis. I can’t even believe it he was so sweet like he asked me out! And of course I said yes, right? And like, when I was leaving he walked me to the door and held my hand and he kissed me! Oh gosh can you believe it? It was so sweet. And…yeah.” Harry sighed and leaned back into the armchair. “I sound like a 12 year old girl,” he giggled.

Louis frowned, the back of his eyes stinging. He felt like someone just ran him over. His heart was beating so fast and it was all he could hear. Harry, who was formerly staring off into space with a nostalgic look on his face, suddenly turned his head towards Louis, as if he had just remembered he was there. 

Louis quickly beamed, masking his real emotions carefully. “Aww look at my wittle Hazza all smitten.” He got up from his position on the couch and made his way over to Harry, sitting down in his lap. He poked Harry’s chin and looked up into his eyes, careful to control how he really felt. For in that moment he wanted to cry.

“I’m really happy, Lou. He’s taking me out tomorrow.” Harry smiled down at Louis.

And Louis decided he couldn’t take it anymore. 

He got up briskly, and yawned exaggeratedly. “Well, little love struck fool. I’m off to bed, yeah? Busy day tomorrow.” 

“What’ve you got planned?” 

“Maybe I’ll head out with Eleanor?” Louis reminded himself that he shouldn’t care about who Harry was seeing. After all, he did have a girlfriend.

Harry’s smile fell at the mention of Louis’ girlfriend. But as quickly as it left his face, it came back.  _Huh,_ Louis thought.  _That’s weird._

“Well alright Lou, see you in the morning…”

Louis smiled and walked up to his room. He tried to control his fast paced heartbeat by breathing in and out deeply.

It didn’t work. 

As soon as he got to his room, he locked the door, and sank to the floor with his head in his hands. Everything was spinning and he didn’t know how to make it stop.

Harry’s words replayed in his head.  _He kissed me! He kissed me! He kissed me!_

And before he knew what was happening, Louis lifted himself from the floor and made his way to his bed, burying his head in the pillows, choked sobs escaping his throat. 

Why does love hurt more than it heals?

***

It’s a week later and Louis’ just gotten back from his trip to Topman with Zayn. 

He unlocks his flat door and walks in with his back, only pausing when he hears to voices coming from the living room. His heart picks up its pace. He’d recognize one of them anywhere. 

Setting his bags down, he makes his way towards the living room slowly, bracing himself for what he’s going to surely see. “Harry?” he calls quietly.

“Lou!” Harry replies, and Louis picks up his pace until he’s in the doorway, head spinning. He sees Harry and a boy sitting together on the same armchair Harry was sitting in when he first told Louis about the whole ordeal.

The boy, who was previously sitting on Harry’s lap, gets up quickly and grabs onto Harry’s hand, pulling him up too. Looking closely at them, Louis finds that the boy is very good looking. He’s a bit taller than Louis himself, but is still shorter than Harry. 

The boy turns to look at Louis finally, holding out a hand for him to shake. “It’s nice to finally meet you Louis,” he says, smiling. “M’names Ben.” 

Louis grabs Ben’s hand, returning the smile in the process. “Great to finally meet you. Harry here can’t quite stop talking about you. You’ve got him charmed, that’s for sure.” he winks.

Harry beams as he looks down at Ben. Louis feels his smile falter but before anyone can notice, he’s turning around and telling the two over his shoulder, “Well I’m heading in for a nap. Gonna give you two lovebirds some privacy.” He hears Harry giggle in response.

Grabbing his bags and trying to calm down his heartbeat, Louis walks to his room, locking the door behind him. He sighs and falls into bed, too warn out from the encounter to do anything anyway.

****

A couple of hours later and Louis is awoken by a nightmare. He doesn’t remember what it was about, only knows that Harry was there. He’s sweating like crazy and his mouth is dry. So he thinks of getting up to get some water from the kitchen. 

Checking his alarm clock, Louis realizes it’s 20:30. He decides that Harry and his boyfriend should’ve left by then, and thinking that’s basically the reason he gets up. 

Going downstairs, he hears the hum of the TV in the background. Louis tiptoes over to the living room, noting that the walls are swimming in the blue of the TV. He squints his eyes and sees two figures moving on the sofa. 

And then it hits him. They’re snogging. Quite passionately. 

Louis’ hand flies to his mouth to cover his jagged breathing, and he abruptly begins walking backwards, almost tripping on someone’s shoes. 

Without getting his glass of water, Louis makes his way back upstairs to his room. His palms are sweating and his heart feels as though it’s going to beat right out of his chest.

 It’s definitely  _not_  one of the most pleasant of feelings. 

***

The One Direction boys were given two weeks off. In that time, Louis decides he needs to go home. He isn’t avoiding Harry. Not at all…

 But the problem with going home is that he never truly escapes Harry. His mum is all over the fact that Harry’s gotten a boyfriend, and his sisters won’t stop asking him to invite Harry and Ben over. 

Louis wants to scream. 

In that time, Harry’s managed to come out with Ben as his boyfriend, and he’s taken him to every premiere and event in the UK. One night, Louis makes the mistake of checking his twitter, and finds his whole timeline filled with teenage girls squealing over how fit Harry and his boyfriend looked together. And all he saw was positive reactions.  _That should be me on his arm,_  Louis thought one night. And with that, breathing became harder, seeing past a veil of tears more challenging.

So in a way, coming back to an empty flat is good. He spends the day watching TV and lounging about, not having to worry about masking his hatred when a gossip channel gushes over Harry and Ben. Not having to stop himself from muttering  _fuck you,_  before changing the channel.

When his eyes feel droopy and his back begins to ache from sitting in the same position for so long, Louis goes to bed.

But just as he gets comfortable, the unthinkable happens.

He hears the slamming of the front door. Thinking that Harry’s back (and kind of dying to see his face), Louis starts to get out of bed again…

But then he hears two pairs of feet on the stairs…

And he sighs, lying back down and closing his eyes. 

And just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse…

Harry’s bedroom door slams shut. Louis jumps. 

Then there is a groan,

And then a gasp, 

And then a, “ _Fuck_  Harry, fuck me,” and…

Oh

Oh 

_Oh._

Louis moves, suddenly very uncomfortable and way too hot. 

But he can’t stop listening.

He’s breathing really fast now, waiting for something to break the silence.

“ _Fuckben_ ,” he hears Harry growl.

And then there are more groans (which are very  _very_  loud. It leads Louis to believe that the other two didn’t know he was home), and gasps.

“Faster,” Ben breathes.

“Fuck,” Harry replies.

“There Harry!” Ben cries.

“Unffff” Harry growls.

And that continues for a while.

A while later, when Louis is painfully hard, he hears a gasp along with the final squeak of Harry’s bed and a sigh. 

_Fuck_ , Louis thought.

For if he wasn’t screwed before, he surely was now.  

***

After an exhaustive week filled with pop star duties, the boys finally get a day off on Wednesday. Harry leaves the house on Tuesday night, barely in the flat for five minutes before he’s out the door again, scurrying off to meet his boyfriend. Louis, on the other hand, calls for some Chinese, and spends the rest of the night in front of the TV, drowning his sorrow in beer and high carb foods. 

He thinks it’s around 2 am when he finally turns the TV off and goes to bed. He can’t be bothered to care though; he buries his head in his pillow and cocoons himself in his blanket, wishing  he wasn’t so alone.

***

When Louis finally wakes up, his alarm clock tells him it’s 7 PM. He groans because honestly, who’s stupid enough to sleep through their entire day off? 

Sighing exasperatedly, Louis slowly rolls out of bed and into the shower, teasing himself and getting off just thinking about what Harry would look like if he were in there with him. 

After changing into a different pair of sweats (because, hello, day off means dressing like a bum), Louis skips down to the kitchen, feeling quite rejuvenated after his climax. But before he can walk inside to make himself a sandwich, he hears the TV and squints into the darkness that is the living room, suddenly frightened. He was sure he locked the door before going to bed…

Not wanting to take a chance, Louis grabs the first thing his hand reaches—in this case, a shoe (oh _fantastic protection,_ huh?)—and begins walking towards the light switch in the living room. His heart beats frantically in his chest and even with his glasses, he can’t see a single thing. 

Louis lifts the shoe slightly above his head, ready to throw it as soon as he has to, and flicks on the light, falling to the floor with his arms wrapping around his head when the person on the sofa yelps in alarm.

“Fuck, Louis, you scared the crap out of me!” Yells Harry, his voice shaking. 

And…oh. Harry.

But that didn’t make any sense.  Why wasn’t he with Ben?

Louis slowly gets up, cheeks ablaze, not only because of the situation but because of what he was thinking about during his shower.

He clears his throat and finally looks up at Harry, shocked at what he sees.

Harry’s been crying. His eyes are red and puffy underneath. There are red splotches all over his face and neck, and Louis can hardly keep himself from running towards the other boy and hugging him and never letting go. 

“Haz?” Louis asks quietly, and Harry gulps. His eyes fill to the brim with tears and this time, Louis doesn’t hold back, instead choosing to run over to his Hazza, holding him as if his arms are the only thing keeping Harry’s body together. He murmurs apologies into Harry’s hair, promising that everything will be okay and kissing his forehead gently. Harry sobs into his shoulder for what feels like an hour, but as soon as it subsides, Louis is pushing Harry over to make room for him on the couch. He lies down and Harry does too, ending up basically half on top of Louis. 

Harry fits his head into the nook of Louis ’ neck, bringing his arm around Lou’s torso and holding on tightly. Louis sighs when Harry shifts his head, curls tickling Louis’ chin. 

But he knows the moment isn’t going to last. Harry’s hurting. And it’s Louis’ job to figure out why.

“Hazza, what’s got you so down?” He questions, quietly.

Harry sighs and then sniffles. When he first tries to talk, his voice is incredibly shaky, and it takes him couple of tries until he can actually speak clearly. 

“I—I went to Bens’ yesterday—” he clears his throat again, trying to relieve himself of the choked feeling. “And…when I got there…he was…” Harry sniffles, trying to hold back his tears. “He was fucking a guy on his couch.”

Louis feels his eyes increase in size, and almost chokes on his own spit. “He…he what!?” Louis screams, outraged, sitting up on the sofa and placing both of his hands on Harry’s shoulders.

Harry chuckles humorously. “I mean I guess who can blame him…no one wants me.”

And Louis wants to scream because  _FUCKS SAKE_ Harry, the person who wants you more than anything is sat  _right in front of your eyes!_

Louis roughly shakes Harry’s shoulders. “Are you mental Haz!? Have you forgotten that every bloody girl in the world wants you!? And probably every boy too!?”

Harry just looks down in his lap and sniffles twice.

“I knew from the start that that Ben guy was a tosser, Harry,” and this is Louis’ problem; talking without thinking it through, speaking without realizing that he is.

“Don’t let him get to you Harry, you’re the best thing that’s happened to this world since sliced bread, and that’s saying something because full boxes of Yorkshire tea probably came after that.” 

Harry looks up at Louis, and Louis feels like his heart is going to explode. 

Harry brings his thumb to Louis cheek, and brushes it gently, intimately. “Thanks boo,” he whispers, and he leans into Louis’ chest. 

Louis holds him, and lays them both down. Soon, Harry has drifted off to sleep. Louis slides off the sofa and dashes to his room, grabbing his phone and sending Zayn a text.

**Mate, I need a favor,**  it reads.

_What’s up Lou??_ Zayn replies.

**Bring 10 rolls of tissue paper to the parking garage. Meet you there in 5.**

***

The next morning, Louis wakes up to the smell of bacon and eggs. His mouth waters and he rushes out of bed, skipping to the kitchen, humming tunelessly.

Harry looks up at him from the stove when Louis appears in the kitchen entrance. He looks quite content, surprisingly, looking very,  _very_  tasty, Louis thinks. 

His breath hitches when Harry smiles at him. He walks over to Harry and hugs him from behind, kissing his neck in the process. 

“And how are you this fine morning, kind sir?” Louis whispers directly in Harry’s ear, chuckling when the younger boy shivers beneath him.

“Fine, thank you, Madam,” Harry replies, not skipping a beat. Louis snorts and moves over to the counter, jumping up and taking a seat, swinging his legs while watching Harry cook. 

And then he remembers.

“Oh Harold I need to show you something before I forget.”

Harry looms at him quizzically, an uncertain smile forming on his lips.

Louis reaches for his phone in the pocket of his sweats and pulls up a picture, finally handing the device over to Harry. “Recognize it, Haz?”

Harry peers down at the screen and gasps audibly, his hand rushing to his mouth.

On the screen is a picture of a house, Tipi-ed with toilet paper, covering literally every inch.

Louis smirks devilishly.

“Lou…Louis what!? How did you…? When did you…? That’s Ben’s house isn’t it?”

Louis chuckles. “Yes it is young Harold, yes it is.”

And then Harry laughs. Laughs so hard that he almost drops Louis phone. Laughs so hard that tears cascade down his face. Laughs so hard that Louis has to jump off of the counter and steady him, just in case he falls over or something.

Harry gasps for airs and grabs Louis’ elbow, bringing him in for a hug. He holds Louis so tightly, emotions suddenly overwhelming him. So much so that he begins crying harder, with such force that Louis is alarmed.

“Harry?” Louis panics, unclenching Harry’s arms from around him, and turning Harry to face him. He looks into those beautiful green eyes and his heart just about bursts with joy when Harry replies,

“They’re tears of happiness, Lou. Thank you. You’re the absolute best.” At this point, Harry’s grin is so wide that his dimples are showing, and Louis thinks, _I’m so ridiculously in love._

“Well Hazzie. Revenge is quite sweet.”  

***

Louis is quite determined when he wakes up the next morning—well technically late evening (so he likes to sleep in on his day off, sue him). He’s ready to see a change; he’s ready to (finally) share his feelings with Harry.

As he brushes his teeth, Louis thinks about the past couple of years of his life. The years he’s spent as a member of One Direction.

He remembers the day he auditioned for the X Factor. He was sickeningly nervous while he waited in line with Stan, bouncing on the balls of his feet with energy (which he shouldn’t have had in the first place because he was going on absolutely  _no_  sleep whatsoever).

He remembers singing two different songs and then he remembers the moment when time stopped; when the stadium went silent as the judges delivered their verdict. He remembers his heart struggling to continue to beat; he remembers thinking his life was in the judges’ hands.

And then miraculously, time continued. His blood strongly pulsed through his veins and all he heard was the audiences’ roar; the  _Yes_  coming out of each of each judge’s mouth.

And in no time at all, it was Boot Camp. While he waited for his turn to perform, he sat with the rest of the contestants in the audience, watching his competition perform.

And of course, the only performance he can single out belongs to a boy; a boy with the cutest dimples and silkiest curly locks.

Louis spits the toothpaste in his mouth into the sink, coming back from his reverie. He washes his face and styles his hair, giving himself a once over when he’s done. On the way out of his room, he pulls on a t-shirt because it’s too cold to actually walk out of his room half naked. Not to mention he’s always been a bit self conscious of his body around Harry because—well, because Harry could be a model, with his chiseled abs and all.

He pads into the kitchen quietly, careful not to wake Harry who had, undoubtedly, gotten no sleep the night of the break up, and was probably catching up on it.

He opens the fridge door to grab the milk and shivers as the cold air hits him, waking him up more than the lukewarm water to his face did. He quickly moves on to take out a bowl and spoon, and box of cereal from the pantry. As he begins pouring said cereal into his bowl, a shuffling in the hallway catches his attention. By the time he looks up, Harry walks in with a couple of dirty dishes, going to put them in the sink, smiling (with dimples, Louis notices, breath hitching at the discovery) at Louis.

Louis reciprocates the smile and he feels his eyes crinkle at the corners, his previous guard down because of Harry’s new found singleness.

“Mornin’ Lou,” Harry drawls. “What’re you up to today?”

Louis has to wait a couple of seconds before he can coherently answer. His heart’s beating so fast he can hear it thud loud and hard in his ears. He knows what he’s going to eventually have to do today.

But instead of cutting right to the chase, Louis replies, “Not much. Just planning on staying in today. I want to enjoy the time off while I can. You?”

“Uh, same actually. D’you wanna put on a film or something?” Harry looks hopeful, and Louis’ knees almost give way.

“I’d love that,” Louis smiles, hoping his affection for the younger boy isn’t too evident on his face (which it probably is—it always is). “Anything particular in mind?”

Harry shrugs. “Let’s see what we have.”

Louis nods and picks up his bowl from the counter, walking to the living room with Harry hot on his heels.

He sits down on the sofa furthest to the TV as Harry scans through the dozens of DVD’s they own, pausing to read out the names of the ones they could potentially watch.

“Surprise me, Harry,” Louis mumbles around the spoonful of cereal in his mouth.

Harry snorts and then, finally, sets his finger on the spine of a DVD case, clearly deliberating with himself whether or not he should choose it. Making up his mind, he pulls out the case and walks to the TV, turning the DVD player on and popping the movie in. Then he turns on the TV, the DVD player’s on screen greeting them brightly in contrast to the weather outside and the darkness of the room.

Harry walks over to the sofa that Louis’ sitting on and plops down next to him. Louis’ heartbeat quickens and he scoffs at himself.  _Unbelievable,_ he thinks to himself.  _It’s been years and you’re still not over the brilliance of his presence._

The movie starts and Louis is surprised to learn that Harry’s chosen  _The Notebook._ He hums in approvable and the two boys are quickly lured in to the exuberance of the story line.

About an hour into the film, Harry pauses it, claiming to need to use the restroom. Louis nods and readjusts his position on the couch, stretching his legs out along its length.

When Harry comes back, he doesn’t take mind to Louis’ position change. He comes back to his previous spot and lifts Louis’ legs.

Louis squeaks in protest but Harry only rolls his eyes and sits back down on the couch, putting Louis’ legs on top of his.

Louis laughs; he doesn’t know why but he laughs.

Harry looks over at him, remote in hand and ready to play the film, eye brows quirking upwards in confusion. “What’s so funny?”

Louis just shakes his head and smiles, pulling at the hem of his shirt. “S’nothing,” he says breathlessly.

“No, Louis, what is it?” Harry asks, smile growing wider on his face.

“Told you it’s nothing, Haz,” Louis says.

“Nothing, really…” Harry ponders and then, before Louis has the time to contemplate the condescending look on Harry’s face—

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Louis squeaks, when Harry begins to tickle him. “Har—Harry s—stop, sTOP!” he tries to scorn Harry through his giggles but they only become louder and soon, Louis is full-on shrieking.

Harry moves from his position to hover over Louis, tickling him all over his torso with his sinful fingers. “Are you gonna tell me why you were laughing before now?” Harry asks through giggles of his own.

“Harry stop, seriously I—I can’t—I can’t breathe!” Louis struggles to get it out and by then, Harry is laughing hard. He finally stops though, and falls on top of Louis.

Louis lets out a surprised breath. But then, he remembers the millions of times they’ve snuggled in the same position before. Sure, he may be a little rusty, but it’s Harry; they always seem to fit together seamlessly.

Louis begins to run his hands through Harry’s curls, taken aback—for the millionth time—by how soft they are. He feels tears prickle in the backs of his eyes as he thinks about how much he truly loves Harry. He thinks it’s finally time he lets him know.

“D’you remember how we met, Harry?” Louis asks quietly, voice shaking a bit. He breathes deeply through his nose, trying to calm his nerves. He realizes with a pang of sentiment, that he probably hasn’t been this nervous since his first X Factor audition.

“’Course I do, you dolt,” Harry says. Louis can feel the gravely vibrations of Harry’s voice on his stomach because now Harry’s suddenly looking up into his eyes, probably curious to figure out what’s gotten his friend so reminiscent out of the blue. “How could I ever forget?”

Louis chuckles, but it sounds like a struggling sob. He smiles a watery smile and looks down at Harry. “Of all places, we met in the loo. Of all places!” he exclaims.

“The most important meeting of my life, y’know? I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Harry says solemnly, poking Louis’ tummy.

Louis feels a tear trickle down his cheek and when Harry lifts his thumb to wipe it away, Louis doesn’t look down at him. Instead he looks up at the ceiling thinking,  _it’s now or never._

“When I saw you sing, I was like—wow I need to know that boy. You stood on that stage with so much confidence and I had to do a double take—it already seemed as though you were a star. And then, before my performance when I went to the toilets, you were there. And I stood there, washing my hands, and I just remember my heart beat quickening. And it hasn’t slowed down since.” Louis was crying now—thick, unyielding tears. But he couldn’t stop speaking; he had come too far.

“And then I looked up into the mirror and over at you, trying to be subtle. But you were already looking at me, smiling with those dimples. And I smiled back and laughed, because you had definitely caught me checking you out.” Louis wiped his nose with his free hand, the other still resting in Harry’s hair.

“And right then, I just had this feeling in the pit of my stomach—it was like my body was warning me; telling me that you were dangerous or something. But I didn’t listen. I told you how brilliant you were. I—” he stops to chuckle, “—I took a  _picture_ with you, Harry, because I knew you’d be going places. And for the rest of that night, and the next day after, all I could see in my head were your eyes, staring back into mine. You didn’t even know me but your eyes spoke the truth, as odd as that sounds. And then, suddenly, they didn’t call my name on stage, but I was more shocked because they didn’t call  _yours._ I saw you crying afterwards and I just wanted to hug you and tell you that everything was going to be okay because, god, Harry, you’re so beautiful and nobody who is as lovely and beautiful as you deserves to cry.” Louis took a shaky breath.

“In what seems like no time, at all the five of us were called back on stage and I saw you there and my heart was fluttering again and we were all so confused. They told us we were going to go through to live shows as a band and we couldn’t fucking believe it and the moment I believed it was when you caught me in your arms and held on to me like your life depended on it. That’s when I realized that this was real. I was going to be given an opportunity to fulfill my dreams with you and four other boys who were  _so_   _talented_.

And throughout X Factor, you and me, we became so close and I just thought,  _wow, this is what love must feel like._ I wasnever able to stop smiling when I was around you; never able to keep myself from touching you. And every time I see you smile, Harry, I just remember the boy in the loo that I fell in love with, those years ago. And ever since that day, Harry, I’ve been in love with you, so in love that it  _hurts_ me in every fiber of my being when I see you with someone else. And I’m sorry I’m shoving all of this on you tonight, but I’m done pretending. I’m done pretending like I don’t love you Harry, because I do, I love you so much. And one of these days you’ll realize how much you mean to me. ” Louis stops abruptly, unable to think of anything else to say.

It was quiet in the house for a few minutes. Then—

“You’ve always been a bit of a rambler, haven’t you Louis?” Harry croaked out.

Louis looked down from the ceiling, eyes landing on Harry’s.

Harry’s face was tear-streaked, his eyes red and puffy. He looked like Louis felt; defeated.

“I can’t believe you at all,” Harry started, and Louis felt his heart sink. He  _knew_ it; Harry didn’t like him back and he’d gone and fucked everything up and—

“How could you have  _kept_ all of that from me!? I’ve been working my arse off every day, trying not to show how much I love you! And even when I try, it still doesn’t seem to work. C’mon Louis, you’ve got to admit: I always make those stupid heart eyes at you. I just can’t believe that you feel the same way.” Harry smiles wetly, more tears streaming down his face.

Louis can’t believe his ears. “Harry, I just—I love you so,  _so_  much,” and even to his own ears, Louis sounds like he’s pleading for Harry to understand.

“I love you too Louis. I always have and I always will,” and with that, Harry crawls up along Louis’ torso slowly, aligning their bodies so they can look into each others’ eyes. “Louis, you have the most beautiful eyes that I’ve ever had the pleasure of looking into,” he said, his voice low.

Louis’ breath catches in his throat; he’s still in shock and can’t properly  _fathom_  all that was happening.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” Harry whispers. “Because I think if I don’t, I might actually die.”

Their lips meet half way. It isn’t a perfect kiss because they aren’t perfect themselves. But it’s real. And both boys feel like their hearts are on fire; all the built up tension and passion of the last couple of years is woven into this kiss. And when they break apart, their breaths stuttering, their eyes meet.

And Louis sees the emerald eyes of the boy who he met in the loo years ago.

The boy who he knew he would love unconditionally for the rest of eternity.

_Fin._


End file.
